


You're Such A Pain

by InstructionsNotFound



Series: Soulmate AU's <3 [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, And because this is my story and I can do what I want, But others will have their moments, F/F, F/M, Gundham and Celeste are half siblings because I like that idea, M/M, Mostly Hajime and Nagito, Sharing Pain, Subtle Chiaki/Sonia at first
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-05-16 16:01:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14814467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InstructionsNotFound/pseuds/InstructionsNotFound
Summary: This will be a typical Soulmate AU where soulmates share pain. Hajime Hinata has just joined Hope's Peak Academy, where his best friend Chiaki attends, and things get interesting as soulmate after soulmate is revealed, including Hajime's own white haired Prince charming, who has some issues of his own.Please enjoy, and if you have any suggestions on how to make this better or something I should do in the future, be sure to tell me!(I've always hated how Soulmate AUs are mainly oneshots with no plot other than the soulmate aspect, so I'd like to offer something else to the table!)





	1. Give Chiaki Her Chocolate Milk Please

**Author's Note:**

> I am a total dork when it comes to corny soulmate AU's, and this will definitely not be the last soulmate AU story I post. 
> 
> Enjoy! (Please!)

"Come on, we're going to be late for school if you don't start getting up, Hajime," Chiaki, Hajime's ride to school, sleepily complained.  
  
"Fine," Hajime said, giving in, rolling directly out of bed. However, when he did so, he didn't think about the fact that he would hit his night stand on the way down.  
  
"Ah, crap," Hajime whispered in response to the pain in his arm from slamming against the wood, before adding a quick, "Sorry."  
  
Hajime did that often whenever he got hurt. He would slip in a quiet apology to his soulmate, even though he knew they wouldn't be able to hear it. He just didn't like the idea of hurting someone he was supposed to love, especially because of something as dumb as rolling out of bed without thinking of the consequence.  
  
"Are you okay in there?" Chiaki asked, her voice still not losing the touch of sleepiness from before. "I heard a thud."  
  
"Yeah," Hajime grumbled from the floor, managing to stand himself up, "It was nothing."  
  
"Okay," Chiaki said in response to his embarrassment. "I'm going to finish making us breakfast. You said you wanted bagels, right?"  
  
"Mhm," Hajime replied nonchalantly, making his way to his dresser, wondering what he should wear for the day. He didn't want to wear anything too plain, because then he would just blend in and nobody would talk to him, but if he wore anything too ambitious, he would get singled out.  
  
In the end, he threw on a white polo with a design on the pocket, and some black pants, which in hindsight was just as plain as could be.  
  
Heading down the stairs, he saw Chiaki in the kitchen putting cream cheese on their bagels, before stopping out of nowhere.  
  
"Aw... come on," She groaned, not realizing Hajime was there, "Not again..."  
  
"Not again what?" Hajime asked immediately, slightly concerned for his friend.  
  
"Oh, uh..." Chiaki mumbled, just noticing Hajime's presence. "It seems as though my soulmate is having another stomachache. That's all."  
  
Hajime nodded to that. He had to deal with frequent migraines from his own soulmate, but after a while they become more of a simple inconvenience than a real pain. With internal pain such as those, Hajime at first had wondered how people could tell who had gotten the headache or stomachache, but when it had happened to him, he just knew. It wasn't something he could explain in words, it was just a feeling.  
  
Outward pain was much more obvious, as one could tell if they had hit their hand against something or not. Thankfully, soul mates only shared pain, not injuries. That was a good thing for Hajime at least, because he had a feeling he would be covered in cuts and bruises if that were the case. He wasn't sure if his soulmate was simply clumsy or daring, but it wasn't exactly uncommon for Hajime to yelp in pain at various points during the day, whereas Chiaki was lucky and mostly only got stomachaches from hers.  
  
"The bagels are done!" Chiaki reports, proud of herself to have accomplished her task.  
  
"Thanks, Chiaki," Hajime says, making his way over to the plate she made for him as Chiaki heads over to the fridge.  
  
"Hajime..?" Chiaki asks quietly after opening it, signaling that something was wrong. However, when Hajime looks into the fridge, he sees nothing out of the ordinary.  
  
"What?" He asks, clearly not understanding what Chiaki is so shocked by, and begins to eat his bagel.  
  
"You forgot the chocolate milk! Now what am I supposed to do?" She says with a pout, closing the fridge and crossing her arms.  
  
Instantly, Hajime widens his eyes, remembering that the day before he had promised to pick some up for her on his way home from work, "Shit. Sorry, Chiaki."  
  
"It's okay," She reluctantly forgives, making it obvious that she is still disappointed that her bagel can't be accompanied by her favorite beverage.  
  
The rest of breakfast isn't met with much conversation, as the main priority was to eat.  
  
When they both finish eating, Chiaki stands up, looking less sleepy than she had all morning, and announced with a smirk, "The Nanami bus is leaving in 1 minute, and isn't afraid to leave without you."  
  
"Okay, okay," Hajime says, and begins to shove his feet into his shoes. Afterwards, he ran up the stairs to get his backpack, making it just in time down the stairs to see Chiaki walk out the front door, not even thinking about his unbrushed hair.  
  
"Really?" Hajime breathed to himself, before racing out the door, making his way to the car. Thankfully, Chiaki wasn't trying to make him walk to school, and let him get in the passenger seat of the car.  
  
"That was a close one," Chiaki said, with a satisfied smile, hearing Hajime catch his breath.  
  
"I can't believe you sometimes," Hajime replies from the other seat, "And over milk nonetheless."  
  
"Over chocolate milk, you mean. The chocolate part makes a big difference, you know," Chiaki says, backing up out of the driveway.  
  
"Yeah, yeah," Hajime quietly murmured, looking out the window, drumming his fingers on the side of the door.  
  
For a few minutes, Chiaki was focused on the road, so the two sat in a comfortable silence. But whenever they reached a red light, Chiaki looked over to Hajime and began to quietly giggle.  
  
"What?" Hajime asked, embarrassed by the sudden action, becoming suddenly self conscious.  
  
"Somebody's got bedhead..." Chiaki says with a peaceful smile, before the light laughter continued.  
  
"Oh, come on," Hajime groans, looking into the mirror, "This is all thanks to you and your time limit."  
  
"It's karma for the chocolate milk," Chiaki says with a shrug, "You know I wouldn't have left you anyway, right?"  
  
"You wouldn't have?" Hajime challenged, now feeling like a fool for being so worried earlier.  
  
"Well..." Chiaki began as Hajime watched the words leave her lips. "Probably not, anyways."  
  
"See? I can never be too careful when it comes to you," Hajime decided, playfully nudging Chiaki's elbow. Then, the two met eyes, making them both burst into laughter at their silly feud as the light turned green.  
  
"Are you still nervous to start the school year?" Chiaki asks after a while of driving.  
  
"Not anymore," Hajime admitted. The night before, he had been telling Chiaki all of his worries for the school year, but this morning he had been in too much of a rush to have put more thought into the matter.  
  
"That's good," Chiaki says, with a satisfied smile on her face, as if everything she had done up until this point had been to help, which wasn't something that should surprise Hajime. She was one of the greatest friends anyone could ask for, because she was always secretly doing things for other people.  
  
At one point, Hajime had even thought she was his soulmate, because of a coincidence where they both felt pain when Hajime had ran into a coffee table. But after talking it over, they realized that it didn't match up, because Hajime had hit his right knee, whereas Chiaki's left ankle had felt pain.  
  
But Chiaki was the type of person to double check things over, and pinched Hajime's wrist as hard as she could in order to clarify that she wouldn't feel the pain as well, and when she didn't, she had managed to both confirm that they weren't soul mates and leave a bruise on Hajime's wrist.  
  
However, even if they weren't romantic soulmates, which both were fine with, they decided to call each other their platonic soulmate. It only seemed right after all, as they were the best of friends, and could usually tell when something was bothering the other.  
  
"Hajime..." Chiaki said, cutting off Hajime's mental flashback. "Are you going to get out of the car?"  
  
Hajime jumped at the sound of her voice, especially when he realized that she was standing outside of the passenger side of the car, holding the door open.  
  
"Oh..." Hajime said in response, as soon as he regained his composure and exited the car. "Sorry, I spaced out there."  
  
"That's okay!" Chiaki says in response, "Anything in particular on your mind?"  
  
"Not really," Hajime says with a shrug, "I was just thinking."  
  
Then Chiaki stopped in front of Hajime out of nowhere, narrowing her eyes at him, "You better be telling me the truth."  
  
"I am!" Hajime said in response, "I was just thinking about the time you pinched me so hard I bruised."  
  
Chiaki looked at him for a moment more, before deciding that that had been the truth. In response, she grinned and kept walking, "Ah, the good old days."  
  
"You're ridiculous," Hajime said in response, before the two took a step into Hope's Peak, and with that, the school year had officially begun. 


	2. Ultimate Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter serves as an introduction of classmates, and the mention of a fun field trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm afraid that this chapter might be a bit too repetitive, but I hope not! 
> 
> Please enjoy! 
> 
> (Also enjoy the short appearance of Ishimaru, my Hall Monitor boy whom I love)

"I take it back, I'm nervous," Hajime admitted after he took his first step into the school building.  
  
To that, Chiaki sighed deeply, and turned to Hajime, "I promise you, you're going to be fine. The kids in our class are nice."  
  
"Easy for you to say," Hajime argued. "You've spent a whole year with them, but I'm just now transferring in."  
  
"That's exactly why you should trust me on this!" Chiaki reasoned. "I already know them, and I'll be there to help introduce you to everyone."  
  
To that, Hajime nodded. The gamers reasoning made sense, and he couldn't think of a structured claim against it.  
  
And so they continued their voyage into the building and to their classroom. However, they were stopped in their tracks almost immediately by a black haired, red-eyed boy.  
  
"Halt! I've never seen you before!" He yelled loudly, as though he knew no inside voice.  
  
"Relax, Ishimaru. This is Hajime Hinata, my friend. He just transferred into my class for the year," Chiaki explained.  
  
"Oh, I see! Pardon me. It's nice to meet your acquaintance, Hinata," The boy said, bowing briefly to Hajime.  
  
"Yeah, it's nice to meet you too," Hajime said in response, still slightly intimidated by him.  
  
With that, they were allowed to pass, and Hajime begged the question, "So, what's his deal?"  
  
"That's Kiyotaka Ishimaru, the Hall Monitor. He's a nice guy when it comes down to it, as long as you follow the rules," Chiaki explains. "He's not the greatest with social interaction, but he tries his best."  
  
"Oh, okay," Hajime says with a nod. _Kiyotaka Ishimaru_ , he repeats in his head. _Hall Monitor._  
  
"Okay, we've arrived. This is our classroom," Chiaki announces, and with that, the two enter the classroom.  
  
For the most part, nobody pays them much attention at first, so they settle into desks next to each other, ready to begin a conversation with each other, before being interrupted.  
  
"Hey Chiaki!" A pink haired boy greets, before turning to Hajime. "And who might you be?"  
  
"My name's Hajime Hinata. I just transferred here," Hajime explains.  
  
"Oh, well in that case, I'm Kazuichi Souda. Welcome to the team," He says with a grin, showing off his pointed teeth.  
  
"Yeah, nice to meet you," Hajime murmurs in response. Before he can say anything else, however, Kazuichi gets distracted by a girl who is still in the middle of entering the classroom.  
  
"Ahh! Miss Sonia," Souda says, stumbling across desks to reach her, "Welcome back!"  
  
"As he said, that's Souda. He's into mechanics, and a particular blonde," Chiaki says, looking up from her DS, which she had pulled out when Hajime had turned the other way.  
  
"Ah, I see," Hajime says, watching him attempt to impress the other girl. "Are they soulmates or something then?"  
  
"Nope," Chiaki said with a confident look on her face, "He's just head over heels with her title and looks. That's Sonia Nevermind, a Princess from a small foreign kingdom named Noveselic."  
  
To that, Hajime nods, "I guess that makes sense, but she's really a princess?"  
  
"You!" A voice calls out from the opposite side of the room, pointing straight at Hajime, "What do these mortals refer to you as?"  
  
"H-hajime," Hajime says, once again frightened by one of his new peers. He took a moment to examine the man, finding bandages wrapped around his left arm, a giant scarf wrapped loosely around his neck, and what seemed to be a scar around his left eye, "What about you?"  
  
At first, the man did not answer back. Instead, he stared down Hajime for a moment, his grey and red eye both looking him over. And then, he finally decided to reply with extreme laughter, "Kehehe. You would like to know my name? Very well then. You have earned the right to be graced with my name through your bravery. You may call me... Gundham Tanaka! Remember my name, for it will rule the world one day! "  
  
"Right," Hajime says, not knowing how to interact with Gundham.  
  
"Alas, I must bid you farewell, mortal," Tanaka announces, before leaving for his seat.  
  
"That's Gundham," Chiaki begins, not even having to look to know that Hajime was thoroughly caught off guard by the strange man, "He's in a permanent chuunibyou phase. At first, he can seem intimidating, but after a while, you get used to him. For the whole first semester last year, he wouldn't let us call him Gundham, so we had to call him Tanaka the Forbidden One."  
  
"Wow," Hajime says. "That's..."  
  
"Mhm," Chiaki agrees, knowing exactly the way the sentence was headed.  
  
"Okay class, get your butts in gear for another wonderful year!" A petite woman, Chisa Yukizome, said after swiftly entering the room.  
  
"I have a special announcement to start off our year!" She continues with a smile, "We have a transfer student! Everybody, welcome Hajime Hinata into our class!"  
  
With that, everyone became aware of his presence, and 14 sets of eyes were on him, even those belonging to Kazuichi and Gundham, who had already seen him. Chiaki, however, didn't even realize this phenomenon was occurring, as she was too into her game and had probably already seen enough of Hajime to last a lifetime.  
  
"Okay, class, now... It's time to introduce your group project!" Mrs. Yukizome says, "And it doubles as our first field trip of the year!"  
  
"There will be 5 groups of 3, since there are 15 students again," She explains, "Tomorrow, we are going to the zoo, and you will be given certain tasks to follow with your group, and you will need picture proof that you accomplish them."  
  
"Heck yes!" Kazuichi says immediately, overly excited about a class field trip.  
  
"The groups will be chosen via a drawing," Chisa announces, pulling a hat out of a cabinet, filled with small papers inside of it.  
  
She then reaches her hand inside, and pulls out a folded slip of paper. After opening it, she reveals the name, "Gundham! Come on up and draw your first groupmate."  
  
"Very well," Gundham says, walking to the front of the classroom. After doing so, he sticks his hand in the hat, moves it around, and then pulls out a folded paper, just as Mrs. Yukizome had done, "The fates have chosen the Dark Lady to assist me in this conquest."  
  
"What? No! That's impossible..." Kazuichi yells in anguish, letting Hajime assume that the Dark Lady was in reference to Sonia.  
  
"Okay Sonia, now it's your turn!" Mrs. Yukizome chimes, ignoring Souda's protest.  
  
After pulling out a name of her own, Sonia studies it before announcing with a cheery smile, "Chiaki!"  
  
On cue, Hajime turns to make sure Chiaki had heard her name called, just in time to see a small smile on the gamers face.  
  
"That concludes our first group!" Chisa exclaims, "Chiaki, pull the name of the first member of the next group!"  
  
When Chiaki does so, she gives her signature focusing face, with her eyes concentrated, her eyebrows furrowed, slightly biting her lip.  
  
"Fuyuhiko," She reads out in a monotone voice, as a short blonde boy makes his way to the front of the room. _Fuyuhiko_ , Hajime repeats in his head, trying to remember his name.  
  
"Tch," Fuyuhiko says with a breath, before pulling out a name, "Kazuichi."  
  
"Oh, so now my name gets picked," Kazuichi replies, without seeming overly distressed about the matter, "Okay, so let's see... I pulled out Ibuki."  
  
With that, an interesting girl made her way to the front of the room, with pink, white, and blue streaks in her black hair, "Alrighty!"  
  
"That concludes group 2!" Mrs. Yukizome clarifies, motioning for Ibuki to draw the first name for the third group.  
  
"Oh yeah!" Ibuki shouts with determination, before pulling out a name, "Peko-Peko!"  
  
As her name was called, a fairly tall girl with gray hair and red eyes, made her way to Ibuki to draw out her next group member.  
  
She spoke calmly, and read aloud the name she pulled out, "Teruteru."  
  
"Splendid!" The boy murmured to himself, before waltzing up to Peko with a wink, causing Fuyuhiko to grumble in minor frustration.  
  
"I choose..." He begins, before revealing the name he pulled out, "Hiyoko..."  
  
"Of course, I'm stuck with the pig," A short blonde girl mumbles, not too happily. She then sticks her fist into the hat, and draws out a name, "Mahiru."  
  
"Mahiru, you are the first member of group 4!" Mrs. Yukizome reminds, as a red headed girl walks up to the hat.  
  
"Hm..." She says, before pulling out a name. "Nagito Komaeda."  
  
"Oh? Me?" A white-haired boy says in response to his name being called, as if that was a twist he hadn't been expecting.  
  
As he walks up to Mahiru, Hajime notices him close his eyes, as if to ask the world for a favor. Afterwards, he simply stuck his hand into the hat with a small, hopeful smile.  
  
"How lucky..." He says once he reads the name, "I drew out the new kid."  
  
"Huh?" Hajime reacts, wondering why the kid had thought it to be lucky to draw out his name, shooting Nagito a curious glance. In response, Komaeda simply shrugged, giving no semblance of an answer.  
  
"That's group 4!" The teacher announces. "That means that the last group is Nekomaru, Akane, and Mikan!"  
  
"Nice!" A tan girl yells excitedly, turning to the giant boy next to her.  
  
"I-I hope I'm n-not intruding by being i-in the group," A timid girl says to the two.  
  
"Of course you're not, Mikan!" The boy announces with an energized shout, "We're a team!"  
  
With that, they were all issued back to their seats, giving the teacher to explain the next days assignment further.  
  
"As I mentioned before, you will be given specific tasks to complete, such as finding a particular statue or animal, or doing something for someone, with picture proof!" She begins, "Make sure you wear the correct attire for the occasion, meaning tennis shoes, and bring any necessary supplies, like snacks, cameras, and sunscreen. As for lunch, you can either bring your own or buy some there."  
  
With that, some excited chatter broke out through the classroom, everybody being vulnerable to the excitement that was a field trip.  
  
"You may now use the rest of class to get to know your group even more!" Chisa exclaims, before heading to her desk and sitting down, working on something entirely different.  
  
"Did she just... pretty much cancel class?" Hajime asks after turnjng to Chiaki, who was now playing on a gameboy rather than a DS.  
  
To that, Chiaki nodded with a shrug, "Yeah. I wouldn't question it if I were you."  
  
"Okay..." Hajime says, having none of his confusions cleared up, not noticing a particular white-haired boy approach his desk.  
  
"Well hello, Hajime," He says, sitting backwards in the chair in front of Hajime's desk, like a stereotypical cool guy. "I'm interested in seeing how you fair in this class."  
  
"Oh, uh, thanks?" Hajime says, wondering what Nagito was rambling on about.  
  
"You know, there used to be someone else in this class..." He says, taking on an even more ominous tone. "He died due to unknown circumstances that occurred during class one day."  
  
"He what?" Hajime asked, shocked by what had come out of the boys mouth.  
  
"He's just messing with you," Chiaki says with an eye roll, "He's talking about Togami, who moved in the middle of last year."  
  
"Oh," Hajime said, relaxing.  
  
"Relax, I was only seeing how he would react," Nagito says to Chiaki, holding up his hands as if to prove his innocence, "But I am glad you're in my group. Luck really was on my side today."  
  
"What makes you say that?" Hajime asks, hoping to understand why the boy was so eager to have him in his group.  
  
"It's just a hunch," Nagito says with a shrug, about to add something else to his sentence, before being interrupted by Mahiru.  
  
"Listen up! I've got the camera for tomorrow, and you two need to contribute!" Mahiru begins, "Nagito, you should bring drinks. New kid, you can bring snacks and sunscreen."  
  
"You already bring your camera everywhere," Nagito mumbles quietly to himself before saying, "I hope I can choose the right beverages to be of use to you guys."  
  
"Right," Hajime says, "Snacks and sunscreen. Got it." He didn't bother arguing with Mahiru, as the photographer seemed like the type to have an unyielding force of a personality.  
  
With that, he turns to Chiaki, to get her opinions on the two, before realizing that she had slipped off to talk to Sonia and Gundham, leaving him trapped with the two.  
  
Okay, the phrase trapped wasn't exactly fair to them, but Hajime had appreciated having someone he knew next to him, because everybody else had at least a years worth of knowledge of each other, leaving him the odd man out.  
  
"See you later, Hajime," Nagito says, grounding Hajime's thoughts. And with that, he walked away and out of the classroom, without anyone else batting an eye at his departure. Shortly after, Mahiru wandered away as well.  
  
With Komaeda gone, Hajime felt like he could breath again. He didn't know why, but Nagito's presence had been suffocating.  
  
"I-buki Mio-da!" A voice interjected, "Put it together, and what do you get? Ibuki Mioda! Thats my name!"  
  
When Hajime turned towards her, he saw that she was accompanied by both Fuyuhiko and Kazuichi, her partners for the field trip.  
  
"Really, Ibuki? Do you have to do that every time you meet someone new?" Kazuichi complains.  
  
Instead of giving Souda the satisfaction of a real response, Ibuki simply smiled, with her tongue slightly sticking out, and said, "Now you're bound to remember Ibuki's name!"  
  
_Does she always speak in third person?_ Hajime wondered, But then supposed that that was the point: you can't forget someone's name if that's all they say.  
  
"And I'm Hajime Hinata," Hajime said to both Ibuki and Fuyuhiko with a nod, even though they had probably heard Mrs. Yukizome say so already.  
  
"The name's Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu," Fuyuhiko says, "We'll see if it's a good thing you know that or not."  
  
"Kuzuryu?" Hajime repeats, the familiarity of the name throwing him off, before he realized where he knew it from. "Like... the Kuzuryu Clan?"  
  
"Yeah, do you got a problem with that?" He asks, inviting a fight over the matter.  
  
"No!" Hajime exclaims loudly, before fixing his voice, "No, I don't mind. It was just an observation."  
  
"That's what I thought," Fuyuhiko says with a grumble.  
  
"Ignore him," The tan girl from earlier says, "I'm Akane Owari, and chibi gangster over there is all bark and no bite. I've asked him to spar before, but-"  
  
"Young master only refused because I stepped in," A tall, red-eyed girl reminded, entering the conversation, "I am Peko Pekoyama. It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Hajime Hinata."  
  
"Uh, yeah, it's nice to meet you too," Hajime says, learning quickly that everyone in the class was an oddball of some sort. While examining the five in front of him, he noticed how closely Fuyuhiko and Peko were standing, and curiously wondered, "Are you two dating or something?"  
  
He hasn't exactly thought out the words, it sort of just slipped out. And once he did, everyone in the room stopped, eager to hear the answer, as if they all had been wondering the same thing, but were too afraid to ask. The question itself was enough to make Peko and Fuyuhiko flustered, which Hajime hadn't even thought possible.  
  
"I-" Peko began, quickly getting caught up in her words, turning to Fuyuhiko, as if to ask him what to do, "Uh."  
  
The blonde quickly regains his composure, briefly staring down Hajime, before turning to Peko, as if to say _"It's okay."_  
  
With that, Peko nodded, gaining her composure as well. Finally, Fuyuhiko speaks up, "You're damn right we are."  
  
And suddenly, even the drop of a pen could be heard throughout the classroom. Even Mrs. Yukizome's jaw had dropped to the floor at Fuyuhiko's confession, while Hajime was still mentally beating himself up over accidentally asking the question in the first place.  
  
"Tch. What's the big deal?" Fuyuhiko says, trying to get everyone to resume what they had been doing before the topic was mentioned, "You're going to choke on the fucking flies that wander into your mouth with your jaws dropped that low."  
  
It was a boy that hadn't talked to Hajime yet that broke the impending silence by saying, "So, the whole young master talk... is that some kind of a kink between you two?"  
  
"Teruteru, be quiet, you gobermouch!" Shushed Mahiru from the other side of the room.  
  
"Dang, well, good on you two," Kazuichi says, bringing the conversation to a normal tune, "Dating, Huh? Are you soulmates too? That's super cool."  
  
"Yeah we are," Fuyuhiko says, shrugging it off, as if he hadn't just revealed his soulmate. In Hajime's eyes, however, Fuyuhiko seemed to be more relaxed now that he wasn't keeping something like that a secret anymore.  
  
"Soulmates!" Ibuki repeats, yelling in either disbelief or excitement.  
  
"Yes, it is true. We are soulmates," Peko confirms to the musician with a nod.  
  
That was everyone's cue to flood towards Fuyuhiko and Peko, asking them questions regarding the matter, so much so that Hajime decided it'd be best to escape the crowd. Once he did so, he stumbled right into Chiaki, who was also keeping out of it.  
  
"Sorry," He says, taking a deep breath of non-crowded air.  
  
"Mhm," Chiaki says, not caring much about the accidental bump, giving him a look.  
  
"What?" Hajime asks in response to said look.  
  
"Hajime, it's your first day, and you've already managed to get Fuyuhiko and Peko to admit that they were soulmates," Chiaki says, looking at Hajime as if he were a miracle on disguise, "We spent all of last year trying to do that."  
  
"I just asked," Hajime said plainly, "That's all."  
  
"Yeah, but... it's not like we haven't asked before," Chiaki says, "They just managed to wiggle their way out every time. We even tried to check through their pain, but neither of them ever made any expressions regarding it, even when they were the one we tried it on."  
  
"And it didn't seem suspicious to you guys at all when they avoided the question?" Hajime questions, after listening to Chiaki's story on the matter.  
  
"They're really good at inconspicuously avoiding things, okay?" Chiaki says, checking her phone for the time, signaling to Hajime that they could leave the classroom.   
  
"Oh, are they?" Hajime asks teasingly, heavily implying that Chiaki and the others had just been oblivious, while beginning to walk out of the classroom with each other. "Give me _one_ example of a time they were good at getting out of admitting something else before."  
  
In response, Chiaki puffed her cheeks in frustration, not being able to come up with a good enough example for the matter, "You are insufferable."  
  
"Mhm," Hajime says with a shrug. "Sure I am."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand? What'd you think? Are you excited for their field trip? What do you think is going to happen on It? 
> 
> Leave a comment below, if you will!


	3. This Chapter Is Literally Just Building Up To The Field Trip And I'm Sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The class (especially Hajime) continues their preparation for the field trip to the Zoo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize that this chapter both took a long time and is fairly uneventful, BUT I have a mostly structured plan for next chapter where things are actually going to happen because it was originally supposed to be combined with this one, but this one started becoming too long. Either way, I'm excited to write next chapter!! Hopefully future me does it justice!! 
> 
> (Hint/Spoiler: Next chapter another soulmate bond gets revealed, and there is bonding time between Hajime and Nagito)
> 
> (Update: Next chapter didn't actually end up having that stuff, but it is still planned for the future!)

The following morning when Hajime awoke, he didn't just hear one voice, but three, coming from the kitchen.  
  
Rubbing his eyes, Hajime sat up in his bed, wondering who Chiaki let into the house. They had just started sharing a house a couple months ago, and in that time, neither of them had had many guests over, so this was a fairly new experience for Hajime.  
  
Deciding that it'd probably be a good idea to have a shirt on before he walked out of his room, Hajime officially left his bed and changed into the clothes he'd be wearing to the zoo.  
  
Afterwards, he exited his room, taking his bag with him, just in case Chiaki attempted to pull the same prank as the day before on him.  
  
When he got to the kitchen, he saw Chiaki, Gundham, and Sonia all sitting at the table, which thankfully had four chairs, even though only two people lived there. Coincidentally, they were all in the same group for the field trip.  
  
"Hey," Hajime said, announcing his presence sleepily. Sure, he did wonder why they were there in the first place, but he trusted Chiaki, and decided that it didn't really matter in the long run.  
  
"Greetings, Hajime of the Hinata Name," Gundham greeted as he noticed Hajime.  
  
"Oh, hello Hajime!" Sonia says, in a quiet yet cheery voice. "I do apologize if it was our chatter that woke you."  
  
"No, you're good. I woke up all on my own," Hajime reveals, making his way over to the fridge to get a glass of milk, preferably chocolate, as Chiaki had most likely picked some up the night before, and he liked it a tad bit more than he fancied regular milk.  
  
However, when he opened the fridge, he was met face to face with a sticky note attached to the gallon that read:  
  
_Chiaki's Chocolate Milk_  
  
  
Instantly, he groaned, almost being able to feel Chiaki's smug grin from across the kitchen, which he knew had to be there.  
  
"Chiaki, you have got to be kidding me," Hajime complains, noticing that the regular milk was nowhere to be found, leaving him no options.  
  
"Nope!" Chiaki says, grinning. "I have a game for you, though: if you find the milk within the next 30 minutes before we leave for school, I just might let you have a glass of my chocolate milk."  
  
"Please tell me you're joking and didn't actually hide the milk in our house," Hajime says, imagining finding the milk a week later, molding away under the couch or some other absurd place.  
  
Instead of replying, Chiaki simply shrugs towards Hajime, before continuing her conversation with Gundham and Sonia, signaling that she wouldn't answer any more questions regarding the matter.  
  
Needless to say, Hajime's paranoia wouldn't let him leave potential milk outside of the fridge for an undetermined amount of time, so he spent the next 20 minutes searching for it, while Sonia, Gundham, and Chiaki all watched with amused looks on their faces.  
  
He checked on and under every couch, table, chair, and bed, to no avail. Finally, however, he _did_ in fact manage to find it. _In the fucking washer._  
  
Afterwards, he marched to the kitchen, milk in hand, and slammed it on the kitchen table dramatically, where Sonia, Gundham, and Chiaki remained, "Who puts milk in the freaking washer, Chiaki?"  
  
"To be fair," Chiaki attempts to reason, "it was an accident at first. But then, I decided it'd be really funny, and went for it."  
  
Hajime wanted to be angry. He really did. But he couldn't help but to shake his head, laughing slightly, saying, "I definitely deserve a glass of chocolate milk after that."  
  
"Have at it," Chiaki says with a smile, glad to have someone like Hajime, who still dealt with her, even after she pulled things like that all of the time.  
  
After his glass of milk and packing his bag full of chips, granola bars, and other assorted snacks, the four seemed to be ready to leave for school, where they would meet up before leaving for the zoo on a bus.  
  
"So, what made you two decide to ride with us, anyway?" Hajime asks, from the backseat, where Chiaki had made him ride.  
  
"Gundham's car refused to start up this morning," Sonia says. "So we turned to Chiaki and she kindly offered her assistance."  
  
"Ohh," Hajime says, nodding as if to convey his understanding of the situation.  
  
"I could have turned to The Queen of Liars for assistance instead," Gundham begins, before trailing off, "However..."  
  
"The Queen of Liars?" Hajime asks curiously, not knowing who he was referring to.  
  
"He's talking about his half-sister, Celestia Ludenberg, from the other class," Sonia explains, translating Gundham's speech for him, "She can be unpredictable at times, making her an uneasy option."  
  
Afterwards, the car ride didn't have much of any conversation. At least none that Hajime was involved in, seeing as the girls in the front were still talking to each other, while Gundham and Hajime remained quite and in the back.  
  
When they entered the classroom, everyone's excitement began radiating off of them in anticipation for the field trip. Even those who claimed not to like zoos or the outdoors seemed particularly upbeat.  
  
"Okay class, settle down. I'll pass out your tasks now! They may somewhat vary from group to group," Chisa says with a smile, handing them to one person from every group, "Now, get into your groups and discuss a game plan, if any is needed!"  
  
Hajime spotted both Mahiru and Nagito, and quickly made his way over to them.  
  
"Okay, so task 1: Assemble Yourselves Into A Pyramid In The Penguin Exhibit," Mahiru reads carefully, before realizing something, "That means we are going to have to get someone else to take a picture of us..."  
  
"Yeah," Hajime agrees, not seeing how else they would get the picture done.  
  
"Obviously, I'm on the top of the pyramid," Mahiru establishes, "There's no way one of you two are getting on my back."  
  
"Naturally," Nagito says, speaking for the first time since they formed into their group, looking like he wanted to go on a monologue about using him as a stepping stone to accomplish the tasks.  
  
Before he could, however, Mahiru continued reading the list of tasks, "Task 2: Ride The Carousel, Sitting Next To Each Other."  
  
"That one's fairly easy," Hajime says.  
  
Mahiru nods, before continuing, "Task 3: Share A Lunch Table With Strangers."  
  
"Oh," Hajime says, not seeming to like the task.  
  
"Sorry, it was probably because of my luck that we ended up with something that would make you uncomfortable, Hinata-kun," Nagito says, making Hajime wonder how someone could be wired to think that way, as if luck was the biggest force of nature.  
  
"No, I doubt that. I bet everyone has something like that, anyways," Hajime says to Nagito, who doesn't seem to believe him.  
  
"Anyways, Task 4:" Mahiru begins, "Get Ice Cream The Color Of Your Hair... If That Is Impossible, You Have To Get Creative."  
  
Mahiru looked at the other two, and groaned, "All you guys have to do is get chocolate and vanilla ice cream. But I have red hair."  
  
"I'm sure you'll figure something out," Hajime says, not knowing what else to tell her.  
  
Thankfully, she moves on, and asks, "Okay, did you guys bring everything you were supposed to?"  
  
"Mhm," Nagito says, pulling out Kool-Aid Jammers, sodas, and cans of lemonade out of his bag.  
  
"You actually did a good job. Lemonade's my favorite," Mahiru says, establishing that Nagito did a good job on his end of the deal. Oddly enough, when Hajime lookedy the soda cans, he saw that Nagito had chosen grape soda, which happened to be his favorite type of soda.  
  
"And grape's my favorite," Hajime says, quizically looking at Nagito. There was no way that someone, especially Nagito, just happened to decide that grape soda was the best bet. Nobody ever did. They always went with Pepsi or Coke, and if Hajime were honest, he didn't like either, "Dude, how'd you know?"  
  
"Aha, it was nothing," Nagito says, putting his hand to the back of his head in embarrassment, averting his eyes from Hajime's while trying to cover up how he managed to accomplish that.  
  
Before Nagito could begin a rant about luck, Hajime interrupted, saying, "And I grabbed some chips and granola bars and such," with a shrug.  
  
Instead of responding, Mahiru just looked at Hajime dead in the eye in silence, as if he had made some detrimental mistake.  
  
"What?" Hajime asks, getting concerned by the foul stare.  
  
"You forgot the sunscreen," She says with a sigh, "Of course it wouldn't matter to you, but as someone with red hair and the palest skin, I can tell you that sunscreen is the more important than any of the other stuff."  
  
"Oh," Hajime says quietly, "Sorry?"  
  
Mahiru sighs in response again, before saying, "I'll let it slide this time, because I brought some of my own just in case this happened. I guess my mind had already secretly dubbed you as Unreliable Hajime."  
  
"Unreliable Hajime?" Hajime repeated with a sad sigh.  
  
"It's okay, Unreliable Hajime," Nagito says, with a small and innocent smile on his face, which contradicted his teasing words. "At least you remembered the snacks."  
  
Before Hajime could muster out another defeated groan, Mahiru exclaimed, "I forgot to read task 5! Task 5 is to create a collage with various pictures of us having fun throughout the trip!"  
  
Clearly, Mahiru was delighted that the whole trip was basically just an excuse for her to show off her photography skills.  
  
"Okay class, the bus is here!" Chisa exclaimed to the class, preventing both Hajime and Nagito from responding to Mahiru. "Everybody, grab a seat buddy, and board the bus!"  
  
"Seat buddy?" Akane asks curiously. "Don't we only have 15 people in our class?"  
  
"Yes! Great observation!" Chisa exclaims, before saying, "Mr. Monokuma's class will be joining us on the field trip. If you don't have any other questions, partner up!"  
  
Nobody else had any remarks, and so the quest for a seat partner began. Instantly, Hajime thought of Chiaki, but after nearly approaching her, he noticed that she was already partnered up with Sonia.  
  
"Hey, Hajime!" Kazuichi exclaimed upon seeing him, "Since Miss Sonia's already partnered up with Chiaki, we should sit together!"  
  
"Oh, uh, yeah," Hajime replies after processing what Kazuichi suggested, realizing that that was the most logical conclusion. "That's a great idea."  
  
"Sweet!" Kazuichi says in response, "I can already tell we're going to make great friends. Kinda like Soul Friends."  
  
"Soul Friends?" Hajime repeats, slightly thrown off by Kazuichi jumping from conclusion to conclusion. However, Hajime did think that the two could be friends in the future, so he didn't argue.  
  
"Okay, it looks like there are already 7 pairs and a single, which means we're all ready," Chisa says, "It's time to board the bus!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you were wondering how Nagito decided what drinks to get from the store, he literally just walked into the aisle with a paper airplane, and threw it twice. The first one landed on a box of 12 cans of lemonade, and the other landed on a box of 12 cans of grape soda. Since he believes so much in his luck, he just went with it (And yes... that means the koolaid Jammers are for him) 
> 
> If you enjoyed this chapter (which you probably didn't tbh, it kinda sucked... nothing happened), please leave a comment below!


	4. The Beginning Of An Adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hajime and the others arrive at the Zoo and begin to attempt to accomplish their tasks! 
> 
> Also... a much needed Ishimondo mention is there, as well as friendship building between Souda and Hajime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this chapter has none of the stuff I promised it would in it I-
> 
> Oof. 
> 
> At least I'm slowly gaining inspiration again and am trying my hardest to get out of the writers block that was hitting me 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter! Even though it's nothing like what I led you to believe it would be! Yikes
> 
> I'm really sorry guys I

After the bus was boarded, Hajime found himself and Kazuichi in the seat behind Sonia and Chiaki. Behind them were two students from the other class, and Hajime surprisingly recognized one: Kiyotaka Ishimaru, the Hall Monitor that he had met the day before.   
  
"Hajime Hinata!" Ishimaru exclaims upon noticing him, "I am glad to have come across you once again!"   
  
"Yeah, same here," Hajime greets, once again a little thrown off by the overly loud voice.   
  
"This is Mondo Oowada," Ishimaru introduces, showing Hajime the person besides him.   
  
"Sup," Mondo greets, making Hajime question why the two were next to each other, if one dressed the part of a delinquent and the other a moral compass.   
  
"Hey guys," Kazuichi says, coming into the conversation as well.   
  
"Kazuichi," Mondo says, giving him a small nod of acknowledgement.   
  
"Thanks again for fixing the vending machine in our hallway!" Kiyotaka exclaimed, talking to Kazuichi.   
  
"Ah, yeah," Souda says, not knowing whether or not he should be embarrassed that he was being complimented for his skills in front of Hajime, "It was nothing."   
  
"I must disagree! You were a big help," Ishimaru says, before noticing that the bus had begun to move. "We'll have to save this conversation for another time, the bus has begun to move!"   
  
With that, Kazuichi nodded, and began facing forward in his seat once more, warning Hajime, "I'd face forward if I were you, or Ishimaru's gonna freak out on you."   
  
"Huh? Why?" Hajime asked, confused, but complied anyways.  
  
"It's his self-proclaimed job to make sure all rules are followed," Kazuichi explains with a shrug, "And he's really dedicated."   
  
"Ah," Hajime says with a nod, "Is that why he's sitting with Mondo? Because he seems like the type to get in trouble often?"   
  
"Actually," Kazuichi says, shaking his head, "They're dating."   
  
" _Oh_ ," Hajime says, slightly taken aback by the information. He surely hadn't expected that.   
  
"Yeah," Kazuichi explains, "It took a while, that's for sure. They were always butting heads at the beginning of last year, but then out of nowhere, they became the best of buds. And by the end of the year, they became boyfriends."   
  
Hajime takes in the information, deciding that it made sense, before curiously asking, "Are they soulmates?"   
  
Kazuichi nods immediately before saying, "Definitely. But they didn't find out until they had already fallen for each other."   
  
"Nice," Hajime says in response smiling to himself about the story. He loved soulmate stories like that, that showed that soulmates really were meant to be together, especially because there were some stories nowadays of people who weren't born with soulmates or those who didn't end up with theirs, making this a good refresher.   
  
Noticing that the current conversation was running dry, Hajime shifted to another thing that had peaked his curiosity, "So what was the talk about a vending machine? Can you really fix them?"   
  
"Yeah," Kazuichi says, looking surprised that Hajime had brought it up, "I'm a mechanic at heart, so when something's broken around here, I'm usually the one who's asked to fix it."   
  
"That's really cool," Hajime says, impressed by his classmate.  
  
"You think so?" Kazuichi asks, picking up on Hajime's awe in the matter.   
  
"Yeah," Hajime says, as if it should be obvious that it was something to be proud of.  
  
"I guess I haven't really thought of it as something special, y'know," Kazuichi says with a shrug, "It seems like everyone around here is good at something, so it just... cancels out."   
  
"No," Hajime looked at Kazuichi for a moment, trying to think of what to say to him to express how wrong that thought process was, "It doesn't just cancel out. You're all talented, right? That means you should _all_ be proud of yourselves, not that you should shrug all of it off."   
  
As Hajime spoke, he felt a pair of eyes on him from the seat to his left. Glancing over, he saw Nagito looking at Hajime with a small smile of admiration on his face, most likely because he overheard what Hajime had just told Souda. When their eyes met, Hajime gave Nagito a smile of his own, before turning back to Kazuichi.   
  
"You're right," Kazuichi says, as though he hadn't noticed the moment Nagito and Hajime had shared, _not_ that it was a special moment or anything. "I hadn't really thought of it like that before."   
  
"I guess when you're like me, without much of anything you're good at, it's easier to realize how cool everyone else is," Hajime says with a shrug, trying not to let any sadness into his voice, as the topic was something he thought about often.   
  
"Come on," Kazuichi says, shaking his head, "I don't know you enough to say anything for sure, but I bet you are good at something. Heck, you already seem like a great friend, and that's a skill in itself."   
  
It goes without saying that that was the moment that Hajime mentally moved Kazuichi from the acquaintance section in his brain to the friend section. And so the two continued talking, jumping from topic to topic as the bus drove on.   
  
Eventually, the bus arrived at its destination, causing everyone's attention to shift. For a moment, Hajime had expected Kiyotaka to stand up and give everyone an inspirational and rule-following speech, before turning around to see Ishimaru asleep, resting his head on Mondo's shoulder, hugging his arm with a peaceful look on his face. _The two sure did make a cute couple,_ Hajime thought, before a loud voice from the front of the bus interrupted.   
  
"Listen up!" Monokuma, the teacher of the other class, began, shocking Hajime with his aggressive attitude. "Be on your best behavior, and don't screw anything up while you're here. If you do-"  
  
"That's enough," Chisa whispers to Monokuma, silencing him, before giving a speech of her own. "I know you guys are all good kids, but even so, you are expected to be on your best behaviors because you are representing Hope's Peak Academy while you are out on this field trip. Have fun, and good luck completing your tasks!"   
  
With that, everyone began gathering their belongings, ready to get off of the bus, and finally have the fun begin.   
  
After getting off of the bus, Hajime stood off to the side, waiting for Nagito and Mahiru to meet up with him. Eventually, they did, and Mahiru pulled out their list of tasks.   
  
"Okay..." Mahiru says, "We should probably start with Task 1, right?"   
  
"That would be the most logical thing to do," Nagito says, adding a shrug to symbolize that he didn't actually care, and would go along with whatever they decided.   
  
"So it's settled then," Mahiru says, "Penguin Exhibit here we come."   
  
However, when she turned around to begin walking towards her destination, she instead came face to face with Chiaki, who was joined by Sonia and Gundham.   
  
"Sorry," Chiaki says, yawning, most likely because she had fallen asleep during the bus ride. "But our first task is to do another groups task with them, so is it okay if we join you?"   
  
"Mhm!" Mahiru exclaims, happy to be able to share the experience with more people. "The more the merrier."   
  
"Obviously, I don't have any complaints," Hajime says, earning narrowed eyes from Nagito that he didn't dwell on for long.   
  
"Me either," Nagito says, giving Hajime the impression that it wasn't the full truth. "As long as it means that I can be of use to you guys."   
  
"I am delighted to hear that!" Sonia says with a smile.   
  
"As it may be worth mentioning," Gundham says to the group, "Gundham Tanaka has obtained the blueprints of this Hell."   
  
Hajime, for one, was completely confused upon hearing what Gundham had said.   
  
"He said he grabbed maps of the Zoo," Chiaki whispers to Hajime, knowing that he would be confused by the others extravagant, fantasy-based sentences.   
  
"Ohh," Hajime says to her, somewhat being able to see the similarities in the two sentences. "Thanks."   
  
"Of course," Chiaki says with a shrug, "I told you I'd have your back."   
  
"If I may, can I ask what the task is that we asked to assist you in?" Sonia asks Mahiru, bringing up an excellent point.   
  
"Oh yeah," Chiaki sleepily admits, "I probably should have asked that. Whoops."   
  
"We are supposed to build a human pyramid in the penguin exhibit," Mahiru states, showing the others the task.   
  
"Ah, yes. The home of the flightless frost demons," Gundham says with a nod.   
  
"So we're going to have to make two separate pyramids," Mahiru establishes, "Obviously, I'm going to be at the top of ours, because I'm the only girl."   
  
"I see," Sonia says, "So Gundham should be at the top of ours because he is the only boy in our group?"   
  
"Absolutely not!" Mahiru exclaims, "It's got to be either you or Chiaki."   
  
"Oh," Sonia says, trying to understand, "Does it always have to be a girl on top of the pyramid, then?"   
  
"Yeah," Mahiru says, "There's no way I'm gonna let Gundham force you two to lift him."   
  
"I'll be on the bottom of the pyramid," Chiaki offers, "I don't mind."   
  
"That settles it," Mahiru says with a nod. Even Gundham had seemed pleased by Chiaki's offer, although Hajime didn't know why.   
  
It didn't take long after that for the group to arrive at the penguin exhibit, and when they did, Hajime shivered due to the drop in temperature.   
  
He had never been a big fan of this part of the Zoo, partially because he never came with a jacket, but also due to the distasteful smell of fish that accompanied it.   
  
"This is probably a good spot to do it," Chiaki says, pointing to an area that branches off slightly, most likely big enough for them to do what was required of them.   
  
"Now the only problem is that we don't have anyone to take the picture," Mahiru grumbles, trying to find someone who she would trust with her camera for even a millisecond. This began to worry Hajime, because he was unsure of how they were going to approach a random stranger and ask them for assistance without coming off as creepy.   
  
However, Sonia had already been making her way towards a close by stranger, and tapped their shoulder, ready to ask them the favor. Hajime supposed that they were lucky that they had someone like Sonia around, who was that good at talking to people.   
  
After a few moments of conversing with them, Sonia escorted the white haired stranger towards them, with a cheery introduction, "This is Kiibo! He says that he'd be willing to take the picture for us!"   
  
"Yes, I'd be happy to help!" Kiibo says with a nod.   
  
Chiaki's group seemed to construct their human pyramid perfectly, taking next to no time at all to get into position. Hajime's group, however, had some issues. Before Hajime or Nagito could even get on the ground, Mahiru was scolding them that they were doing it wrong.   
  
Nagito didn't seem to be bothered at all by the fact, however, and said as many sorrys as he could, mumbling about how he wanted to do this perfectly so he could be a stepping stone to help all of them get a good grade on the project.  
  
In Hajime's opinion, the spiel seemed like it was too much of a reflex to be what Nagito was actually thinking, but then again, Hajime didn't really know him enough to tell.   
  
Eventually, they thankfully managed to be in the exact position Mahiru had wanted, so she relaxed, and began walking closer to them.   
  
"If either of you make any comments on my weight, you'll have to answer to Hiyoko and Sakura," Mahiru warns, before climbing onto Hajime and Nagito's backs.   
  
Hajime didn't know who Sakura was, or much of anything about Hiyoko, but Mahiru's tone made it clear enough that making such comments was out of question, not that he would've made those comments otherwise.   
  
If anything, he had himself to blame for his arms shaking under her weight. She wasn't that heavy, but because Hajime had next to no arm strength, it was a struggle for him to keep her up.   
  
He would've assumed that Nagito would be having the same issues, with his skinny frame and all, but after sneaking a glance at him, Hajime knew that assumption was incorrect. In fact, Nagito didn't seem like he was putting in any effort at all, as if Mahiru wasn't even on top of him.   
  
Hajime instantly felt embarrassed by the realization, and looked back towards Kiibo and the camera. Thankfully, the whole thing was over fairly quickly after that, and Hajime got to relax while Sonia thanked Kiibo.   
  
"Congrats!" Mahiru cheers to Hajime, with a sly smile on her face.   
  
"Huh?" Hajime asks, not knowing what she was talking about.   
  
"I put all of my weight on you instead of on Nagito, to test you," Mahiru explains, "And you passed! So that means I can count on you now,"   
  
"Oh," Hajime says, too relieved by the fact that he wasn't just a huge wimp to get even slightly angered by the fact.   
  
"Sorry Hajime!" Nagito says, popping into the conversation, "I noticed what she was doing, but I didn't stop her. I wanted to see how you'd react."   
  
"That's okay," Hajime says with a shrug, "At least now we have task one done."   
  
"Yup!" Mahiru exclaims, "Next stop, the carousel!"   
  
"Looks like this is where we part," Chiaki says to all three of them.   
  
"Mhm," Sonia agrees, "Thank you for allowing us to accompany you this far."   
  
"Yup, no problem," Mahiru says, "Where are you all headed now?"   
  
"We must retreat to the realm of the kings of the sea," Gundham declares, "Farewell."   
  
"The what?" Mahiru asks, revealing to Hajime that he thankfully wasn't the only one confused by Gundham's words.   
  
"We're going to the sea lions exhibit," Sonia explains.  
  
"Ohhh," Mahiru says, looking at the map Gundham had given her, "That's in the opposite direction of the carousel. So I'll see you all later!"   
  
"Mhm," Chiaki says, seemingly tired yet again, "Bye."   
  
"Yeah, bye," Hajime says to her with a sigh. It's not that they had even talked much during the short time their two groups had travelled together, but even so, it had still been nice to have Chiaki there with him, because she was someone he could understand.   
  
"Let's go!" Mahiru demands after a moment more of them standing around, using both if her hands to grab both of their arms to drag them towards their destination.   
  
This caused both Nagito and Hajime yelped out of surprise in response to her action, prompting them to exchange similar looks with each other as they were dragged off into the distance.   
_  
__Maybe his classmates were an odd bunch_ , Hajime thought to himself, _but he could already find himself beginning to enjoy their company._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So? How was it?? Please leave a comment below with your feedback!! 
> 
> Thank you for getting this far and giving this a chance!
> 
> (That moment when the soulmate prompt hasn't even been mentioned in like two chapters because nobody has felt pain,,, don't worry that'll change though!)
> 
> Also!! The reason I said that Gundham was pleased by Chiaki's offer is because he has that thing where he's weird about other people touching him, and out of the two girls, if anyone had to, he would prefer it to be Sonia because she has demon blood in his eyes. So yeah. I just wanted to include that a little bit.


	5. River Otters And Stuffed Animals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mahiru, Nagito, and Hajime all make their way to the carousel to complete their second task. Afterwards, they realize they have some time before they need to make their way to lunch, and so they head to the gift shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! 
> 
> I am so sorry that I let over a month go by since the last time I updated this. With school coming up, I can't promise that I will be able to upload any quicker, but I can say that I do have an idea for the next chapter, so that should help. 
> 
> If I get someone's character erong, please let me know! Most of the reason that it took me so long to write this is because I didn't know how to write some people on these situations, and I could use all the help I can get!
> 
> Also, I decided to start an Instagram @instructionsnotfound. Feel free to check me out on there. I just made it last night, so there isn't much on there yet. 
> 
> And lastly! I know this fic is very slow paced, which can bother some people. I'm very sorry about that, but I enjoy writing slower paced things more so, so I can't promise that will change. My apologies.

"Hurry up!" Mahiru calls to Hajime and Nagito, still dragging them along, as if something were on her mind.   
  
"Just wait a second," Hajime groans, "Why are you in such a rush?"   
  
"I'm not!" Mahiru argues, letting go of their arms to cross her own.   
  
"I know it's not helpful to hear this from a lowly bug like me," Nagito says, "But you were just dragging us across the Zoo..."   
  
With his response, Hajime glanced over at Nagito, who was now fishing a Kool-Aid Jammer out of his bag. _Did Nagito always talk so badly about himself?_   
  
He shrugged off the thought, deciding to leave it for another time, and turned back towards Mahiru with a questioning glance.   
  
"Fine. I _was_ rushing," Mahiru says, giving up her act, "I just wanted to get to the carousel faster, okay?"   
  
"Why?" Hajime asks, dragging a granola bar out of his own bag, opening it without struggling.   
  
"I just got excited," Mahiru says, ashamed, "I remembered how my mom used to take me here all the time, and... I don't know, it doesn't matter. It was stupid. Let's just go."   
  
"That's not stupid," Nagito argues in the midst of sipping on his grape flavored Kool-Aid Jammer, "Having something bring you joy is a sensation everyone should hope for."   
  
"I agree with Nagito," Hajime says, "It's not dumb to get excited over something."   
  
In response, Mahiru stares at the two boys for a long moment, before her mouth began forming a small smile, "For guys, you two are pretty good at pep talks..."   
  
"Thanks...?" Hajime says, unsure of whether he was supposed to take her comment as a compliment or not.   
  
"Very well then," Mahiru declares, beginning to make her way towards the carousel once more, "We've got a carousel to ride."   
  
After a few steps, she turns back towards them with a sly smile, and says, "By the way, I call the river otter."   
  
Soon after, they finally arrived at the carousel, only to be met with a somewhat long line, which was unusual for this particular zoo.   
  
"Ah, sorry..." Nagito apologizes upon discovering the crowd of people, as if he believed that he had somehow caused their wait, "I knew my bad luck was bound to strike, eventually..."   
  
"That's okay," Mahiru says, "The wait makes no difference. Right Hajime?"   
  
"Oh, um," Hajime says, caught off guard by being brought into the conversation, "Yeah."   
  
"Hm..." Mahiru says, slightly disheartened, "It's supposed to be the guys cheering up the girls, you know. Not the other way around..."   
  
"Sorry," Both boys apologize in unison, although there wasn't much reason to, especially because neither had actually done anything wrong in the first place.   
  
Before too terribly long, the line dwindled, and they were let onto the ride, Mahiru immediately bolting towards the river otter seat, clearly having some sort of sentimental attachment to it.   
  
Nagito and Hajime followed behind, taking the sun bear and the baby elephant seats behind the other, so they could all be close to each other, as needed for the picture.   
  
"Lean closer to each other so you can fit in the picture," Mahiru says, after unsuccessfully attempting to get a good photo of the three of them on the carousel, "You both are hanging out of the picture. It makes it look tacky."   
  
"Uh, okay..." Hajime says, unsure of how to lean closer without falling off of the sun bear.   
  
In the end, the two boys had to place one of their hands on the others animal, causing them to lean against each other while their other hand kept them on their own seat. Thankfully Mahiru had waited until after the ride was over to make them take a picture, otherwise it would've been impossible for them not to fall.   
  
"S-sorry," Nagito mumbled when their shoulders first hit each other's.   
  
"It's okay," Hajime says with a reassuring smile. He didn't understand why Nagito had gotten so worked up just because they had to lean against each other for the school photo, but no matter the reason, he wanted to help him relax.   
  
"Stop looking at each other and look at the camera," Mahiru commands. It was obvious that she took photography very seriously, and was not about to let her group mates ruin the picture for her.   
  
In response to her comment, Nagito turned away from Hajime as fast as he could, leaving only a fraction of a second for Hajime to see his reddening face.   
  
_Huh_. _Nagito's a weird guy_ , Hajime thought as he too turned towards the camera. But what he didn't notice was the tips of his own ears turning the same shade of red as the albino face.   
  
"Okay... got it!" Mahiru finally says, flashing the two of them a smile and a thumbs up as their congratulations for finally getting a good photo in.   
  
"Where to next?" Hajime asks.   
  
"Hm..." Mahiru says, deep in thought, "Our next task is Lunch, but..."   
  
With that, Hajime pulled out his phone to check the time, and saw that it was still a little too early for that.   
  
"We could check out the gift shop," Nagito suggests, mostly to himself.   
  
"That sounds like a good idea to me..." Hajime comments in response, surprising Nagito, who didn't think he had made that comment loud enough for the others to hear him.   
  
"Oh?" He says, staring at Hajime with a look on his face Hajime couldn't quite place.   
  
"I agree-!" Mahiru chimes, breaking Nagito's gaze, "So it's settled. We are going to the gift shop!"   
  
With that, Mahiru began marching off, not even waiting to see if the boys followed behind.   
  
When they arrived at the gift shop, they were met with a familiar set of faces belonging to Kazuichi, Fuyuhiko, and Ibuki.   
  
"Hey Hajime!" Kazuichi greets first, waving him and his group over.   
  
"Tch," Fuyuhiko let's out after the pinkette does so, "We're already wasting time as it is..."   
  
"No we aren't!" Souda argues, "Field trips are supposed to be fun, Fu. Besides, Ibuki isn't going to let us do anything else until she finishes buying that stuffed rainbow panda."   
  
"True," Fuyuhiko mumbles, before adding, "An' don't call me that. The name's Fuyuhiko. I don't do that nickname shit."   
  
"But I heard you telling Peko to call you that the other day!" Kazuichi argues, grumbling.   
  
"Yeah, well, you sure as hell ain't Peko," Fuyuhiko retorts, his cheeks getting even pinker than usual, "That's different."   
  
"Yeah, yeah," Kazuichi grumbles, before turning back to Hajime, Mahiru, and Komaeda, "So what brings you here?"   
  
"Our next task has to do with lunch," Hajime explains, "So we had some extra time."   
  
"Thanks to my time management skills," Mahiru cuts in, a proud smile shining on her face.   
  
"Something like that," Hajime says, rolling his eyes with a smile.   
  
In response, Kazuichi nods, "We we're on our way to the bear exhibit to complete our third task when Ibuki over there decided to dash in here cause she saw a stuffed animal she wanted."   
  
"I don't mind, but..." Kazuichi continues, sticking his tongue out at Fuyuhiko, "Fuyuhiko on the other hand hates fun."   
  
"Tch," Fuyuhiko murmurs, walking away with his arms crossed, shaking his head slightly.   
  
With that, Hajime nods, "I see."   
  
"Yeah, but don't get me wrong, he's not a bad guy," Kazuichi clarifies, cupping his mouth to shout his next line, "HE'S A BIG SOFTIE UNDERNEATH IT ALL!"   
  
"SHUT YOUR FUCKIN' TRAP," Fuyuhiko calls from across the shop, gazing at some sort of zoo-themed sweets.   
  
"Souda!" Ibuki exclaims, running towards the group, holding something in her hands, "Look at it! Isn't it so cute!"   
  
"Yeah, it's... it's great," Kazuichi says, obviously trying his best to go along with it .   
  
"You, new kid!" Ibuki says, pointing to Hajime with her free hand.   
  
"Wha-? Me?" Hajime asks sheepishly, not used to being the center of attention for anyone.   
  
Even when he spent time with Chiaki, he had never had to worry about that before, as she could never keep her attention on one sole thing. She almost always was somewhat preoccupied playing a game, on the verge of taking a nap, or driving when they hung out.   
  
"Yes, you!" Ibuki confirms, as loudly as ever, presenting Hajime with the aforementioned rainbow panda bear, "I need you give this a name!"   
  
"...Your stuffed animal?" Hajime asks, not taking the command very seriously.   
  
"It's rude to question a lady like that," Mahiru mutters under her breath to Hajime, expressing her disappointment in him.   
  
"Sorry..." Hajime finds himself saying. It's not that he actually thought he had done something wrong; he just couldn't help himself from giving in when someone else seemed disappointed or upset with him.   
  
"... How about... Ah, no. Nevermind," Nagito mumbles, mostly to himself, most likely hoping that luck will make it to where no one heard him in the first place.   
  
However, luck doesn't work for everything, regardless of what Komaeda thought, and so Ibuki turned towards him, a wild grin on her face, "Yahoooo! I'm so excited. Tell me tell me tell me-"   
  
"Oh! Very well. I am honored that you want someone like me to assist you," Komaeda says, speaking in his strange riddles once again.   
  
Hajime hated that he couldn't understand Nagito.   
  
Sure, it was too early for him to fully understand any of their classmates yet, besides Chiaki, but he at least had an idea as to what to think about the rest.   
  
Nagito Komaeda, however, was a wild card, and everything he said or did made him that much more confusing.  _How could someone so self depricating also appear to be so care-free at times? And why was he always going on about hope and luck?_   
  
"How about Schubert?" Nagito finally suggests, settling on a name.   
  
"Like the great composer!" Ibuki yells in awe, "Of course! He can be my musician buddy!"   
  
_Good luck with that_ , Hajime thought to himself. _She sure is something if she could imply that a stuffed bear was fit to be a musician with a straight face._   
  
"If we aren't at the bear exhibit in 5 minutes, I'm gonna shave your fuckin' head Kazuichi," Fuyuhiko gripes, walking back towards them.   
  
"Y-you can't do that!" Kazuichi pouts, putting his hands to his hair as if to protect his pink locks.   
  
"Really?" Fuyuhiko asks, tilting his head to the left to emphasise his words. "I'm a motherfuckin' yakuza, yet you don't think I can pull off gettin' you a buzz cut?"   
  
In response, Kazuichi let's out a small yelp, but tries to cover it up with strong words, "Ibuki, it's time to go. But not 'cause shorty over here wants us to! It's out of our own free will!"   
  
_Free will?_ Hajime thinks, although slightly regretting it due to the fact that Kazuichi was his friend. _Yeah, that's why you're bossing Ibuki around now..._   
  
"Comiiiiing!" Ibuki cheers, dropping what she was doing, which was having a conversation with Nagito about supposedly iconic musicians, most of whom Hajime had never heard of, in order to waltz over to her group.   
  
"Finally..." Fuyuhiko mumbles, before turning to Kazuichi with a light glare, "And don't call me shorty!"   
  
"Yeah, yeah," Kazuichi says, shrugging it off as the three walk away.   
  
The two have a weird dynamic, Hajime notes, but they definitely do make good friends.   
  
"They're always bickering like that," Mahiru comments after they leave, "It's so inconsiderate."   
  
"Really?" Hajime asks, jumping at the opportunity to know more about his classmates.   
  
He still couldn't help but to feel like it was a competition to know the most he could about everyone. But on an even more depressing note, it felt like the kind of competition he was losing big time.   
  
In response, Nagito, who was currently staring at a display of stuffed animals, let out a noise of disagreement, "Hm. I don't see it that way..."   
  
Hajime hadn't really pegged him as the type of guy that would be interested in stuffed animals, especially in high school, but that little fact simply proved just how little Hajime knew about the guy.   
  
"Huh?" Hajime and Mahiru ask at the same time, turning towards him, curious as to what the albino could contribute to their conversation.   
  
"Oh, forgive me for butting in!" Nagito apologizes in response to their reaction, his face flushing in embarrassment, thinking that he spoke out of place, "I shouldn't have assumed I had a place in the conversation."   
  
"Hey, Nagito..." Hajime says, mentally trying to calculate a right way to go about what he was going to bring up, "You're allowed to talk to us without an invitation, you know... There's no need to apologize for talking. We were just curious as to what you had to say, that's all."   
  
"Oh," Nagito says, staring directly at Hajime for a moment, as if to assess his statement, before his eyes widened, realizing that Hajime was being genuine, "Thank you, Hinata-kun."   
  
"Hinata-kun?" Hajime quietly repeats, tilting his head. The other had already called him by his first name on several occasions, so why the sudden formality?   
  
"Stop gaping at each other!" Mahiru complains, "Didn't you have something to say, Nagito?"   
  
"R-right," Nagito says, his face gaining a thoughtful look, remembering their earlier conversation about Fuyuhiko and Kazuichi's friendship, "I don't think there is any bad to their bickering at all... Think about it: with their personalities, there's only a couple ways a friendship could work between them. And they managed to choose a dynamic that let them become close. It's admirable."   
  
_He's just over-thinking it_ , was Hajime's first mental response to Nagito's ramble, but the more he thought about it, Nagito had a point.

There were an infinite amount of alternate universes where Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko probably didn't get along in the slightest, but somehow in this one they managed to become friends. It was kind of a cool thing to think about.   
  
"Hm..." Mahiru says in thought, "Maybe so, but they could at least tone it down in front of everyone else. Regardless, we should start hurrying up! I'm getting hungry, and a lady shouldn't have to wait for food."   
  
With that, Mahiru began walking off, once again not checking to see if Hajime and Nagito were ready to follow.   
  
"...Hey, Hajime?" Nagito asks, refocusing the brunettes attention.   
  
"Yeah?" Hajime questions, wondering what the albino was about to say.   
  
"Would you mind asking Mahiru to wait for me?" He asks, a nervous smile on his face. "I... have to get something."   
  
"Oh, of course..." Hajime answers with a nod.   
  
"Thank you, Hinata-kun," Komaeda says, his nervous smile replaced with a genuine one, "I guess It's my lucky day now that you're around... And don't worry, I won't keep you waiting long!"   
  
_Hinata-kun again?_ Hajime thinks, but decides to shrug it off.   
  
"Not that you'd worry about me anyway-" Nagito begins to say, in response to Hajime's pause of silence, before getting cut off by the other.   
  
"I would," Hajime argues, without a reason to. He just said the first thing he could think of to stop the albino from talking bad about himself.   
  
"..." Nagito stops mid-sentence, his cheeks turning a shade of pink in response to Hajime's words, not that the brunette notices this fact.   
  
"See you in a minute, Komaeda," Hajime announces, flashing the other a small smile, before exiting the door to stall the redhead, who had already begun marching towards their next destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry more stuff about the soulmate bond is going to be mentioned soon!! And yes, some characters are gonna feel pain real soon to find out ;). Oops. 
> 
> Anyways, thank you so much for reading and being patient with me! And sorry for this chapter being a little repetitive. I didn't revise it as much as I wanted to, but I knew that if I didn't post it now, I probably wouldn't at all.
> 
> Please feel free to comment below! I greatly enjoy comments, and they motivate me a lot.


	6. And It Ends With A Scream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hajime, Komaeda, and Mahiru eat lunch with strangers, including a purple haired gremlin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao hi 
> 
> I didnt give up on this I promise

Thankfully when Hajime left the gift shop, Mahiru was sitting on the bench to the right of it, and hadn't completely left them behind. 

In her hand she held her prized possession- the camera that always hung around her neck. At the moment, she was scrolling through the images saved on it, deciding which shots were good enough to make it into their school project, and which were subpar. 

Without saying a word, Hajime sat next to her on the bench, leaving plenty of space between them. The plan was to wait for Nagito to exit the gift shop in silence, but the moment he sat down, Mahiru began to speak to him. 

"Scoot closer," She demands, without even glancing up. In a way, it reminded Hajime of Chiaki, who was always gaming, but nonetheless was aware of her surroundings. 

"Okay..." Hajime says, complying. He saw no reason not to, since he knew he had to wait with her regardless, he just hadn't been expecting her demand. 

"Help me pick which photos are good enough," Mahiru states, as if it weren't an option, in the same way a general would issue a command. 

"Alright," Hajime agrees, shifting his gaze to the images on the camera. Immediately, he was mesmerized. Her camerawork was phenomenal, "Woah..." 

"Hm? Is something wrong?" She wonders, pausing slightly, a smidge of nervousness in her voice. 

"No, it's just..." Hajime breathes, attempting to structure his thoughts into words, "They're amazing..."

"Hmph," Mahiru responds, sounding frustrated by Hajime's awe. 

"D-did I say something wrong?" Hajime asks, thrown off by the girls sudden change in attitude. 

The pictures they were currently looking at were the first ones she had taken on the carousel, before she had nagged at Hajime and Komaeda to lean closer to the middle, as they were slightly cut out of the pictures. Even so, with the way Mahiru had taken them, the fact didn't take away from the pictures at all: they were still as professional as if they had been perfectly positioned in the first place. 

"I'm not a fan of words like amazing or awesome," She explains with a sigh, "They seem... half-assed and insincere." 

"Oh," Hajime says, regret in his voice. He wished he was the type of person that always said the right thing, but those only existed in fairytales. 

"Oh well," Mahiru says, her face lighting up once again, "Guess I should have expected as much from Unreliable Hajime!" 

"U-unreliable Hajime?" Hajime squeaks out with a groan, "I thought we were over that!" 

"We were," Mahiru clarifies, a small giggle escaping her lips before she forced it away. "But you can always regain a title." 

"..." Hajime couldn't bring himself to respond to that, and instead redirected his gaze to the camera. 

"O-oh, right!" She says, slightly embarrassed by the fact that she had forgotten that they were supposed to be looking through the pictures this whole time.

"I mean... it was your fault I got distracted in the first place," She corrects, sticking her nose up in the air, trying to cover up her embarrassment with the accusation, "Hmph. Anyways-" 

"Mahiru," Hajime politely argues, "I didn't say that they were amazing because I felt like I needed to give a compliment. I said it because I meant it." 

"..." At first Mahiru doesn't respond, letting the reddening of her cheeks say everything for her, before she finally speaks, glancing down at the picture that was pulled up on her camera, "You blinked in this one." 

Instead of replying, Hajime let's out a small groan as Mahiru scrolls past the image he had messed up. 

Wait. Scrolled past? 

"Hey, Mahiru..." Hajime supplies with curiosity, "Aren't you going to delete that?" 

"Nope," She answers so matter-of-factly that Hajime can't bring himself to ask why. 

"Oh..." Hajime says, confusion evident in his voice as Mahiru disregards it by continuing to scroll through the pictures she took. 

"How about this one?" Mahiru eventually asks, changing the subject by showing Hajime another one. 

The picture she showed him was the first one taken after she had yelled at the two boys for hanging out of the picture, so Komaeda and Hajime had just begun to lean against one another. 

Right away, he noticed how red Nagito's face was in the picture, and recalled how embarassed the other had gotten when they accidentally brushed shoulders. 

What a weirdo, Hajime thought in passing before something else depicted in the image caught his attention: his ears. 

It was silly; Hajime knew it.

But the tips of his ears in the picture happened to be the same shade of red that Komaeda's face had been. 

He didn't know what it meant, but he couldn't take his focus off of the fact. A coincidence, perhaps? Or a trick of the light? He didn't remember being embarrassed by a mere shoulder graze: so ...why did this miniscule detail seem so significant? 

"Hajime..." He vaguely hears, his focus still stuck on the image. 

"..." 

"Hajime!" A new voice cuts in, instantly catching his attention. 

"Huh?" He exclaims, snapping back into reality, just to see Komaeda standing in front of him, a bag in his hand. 

"Komaeda?" Mahiru asks, "When did you get here?" 

"Oh, just a couple of minutes ago," Nagito says shyly, rubbing the back of his neck. 

"You were standing there that long and you didn't say anything?" Mahiru begins to scold, "That's not the behavior of a gentleman!" 

"Ah, sorry!" He apologizes, "You two were just in the middle of something, I didn't want to intrude." 

"Nevermind that, let's head to lunch," Mahiru says, shaking her head slightly as she stands up, ready to lead them to their next destination. 

"So..." Hajime says, trying to make small talk as they walked, "What'd you have to get?" 

"..." Komaeda doesn't respond at first, slightly moving the gift bag closer to his side out of instinct as if to protect it, before finally saying, "A bomb." 

"H-" Hajime couldn't bring himself to form a solid reply. Nagito had said so in such a cold voice that almost made his rouse believable, but Hajime knew there was no way the Zoo gift shop actually sold bombs, So what was he hiding? 

Without realizing it, Hajime had begun to stare at the white haired boy in wonder as he mindlessly walked, spacing out yet again. 

"Are you okay, Hinata-kun?" Komaeda asks after a moment, a concerned expression painted on his face. 

"Oh," Hajime says, instant embarrassment flooding his emotions after being caught staring at the other, "Y-yeah I'm fine." 

"Are you sure?" Komaeda asks, "Your face is really red." 

Oh crap. 

With that, Komaeda stepped closer to Hajime, placing the back of his palm on the brunette’s forehead. 

After a moment, the albino removed his hand from Hajime's face, a look of relief evident on his own, "Oh, You don't have a fever. That's good! It's probably just from the heat then." 

Oh thank God, Hajime thought. 

Komaeda didn't seem like the dense type, so Hajime was thankful for this miracle. 

With that, Nagito began fishing something out of his original bag- a grape soda- and flashed a smile as he handed it to Hajime, saying, "Stay hydrated." 

"Thanks," Hajime mumbles, opening the can of soda to take a swig. Maybe this way he could just drown in the carbonation to prevent himself from another embarrassment.

-o- 

Eventually the trio had arrived at their destination, suffered through the lengthy line, purchased their food, and regrouped. 

"What now?" Hajime asks, as they stand there, scanning the tables looking for any potentially friendly faces. 

"We approach someone, obviously," Mahiru states, before her eyes land on a group of people--- teenagers. Four girls, two guys. 

"Them," She says, confidence in her voice. 

"What if they say no?" Hajime wonders aloud, earning a look of what seemed to be disappointment from Nagito, who apparently had something against cynics. 

Luckily the look went away almost as soon as it came, and was replaced with Mahiru confidently answering, "They won't." 

"O-okay," Hajime says, deciding to drop the skepticism for once in his life, especially because it was for a mandatory school project, and the only other person that seemed to be their age was a tall, slender guy sitting alone at a two-person table drinking what was most definitely black coffee. Needless to say, he wasn't a better option. 

With that, Mahiru approached the table of teens leaving Hajime and Nagito behind to wait for her signal in silence. Hajime and wanted to say something to the other, but didn't want to break the comfortable silence they had. 

Eventually, Mahiru gave the signal, and the two made their way over.

"Hajime, Nagito, meet Shuichi, Kokichi, Kaede, Tsumugi, Tenko, and Himiko," Mahiru introduces with a satisfied smile, proud that she had been able to convince them into going along with their cooky task.

"So, are you two soulmates?" A purple haired boy questions, motioning to Hajime and Nagito, who were unknowingly standing close to one another, his tone on the verge of accusatory. Hajime tried, but he couldn't remember the boys name. 

"H-huh?" Hajime squeaks out, aware of his rapidly reddening face, as Komaeda let out an equally squeaky choking noise. Clearly, the two in question had not expected that to come out of the boy's mouth.

Thankfully, the dark-haired boy next to him stepped in, saying, "Kokichi, we've talked about this... you can't ask just anyone if they're soulmates right off the bat." 

"Okay, fine," The first boy, Kokichi, consents with an unsatisfied sigh, "But it needed to be said-"

In response, the other boy, Shuichi, rolled his eyes in a playful way, before speaking up, greeting, “It's nice to meet you… and I apologize for my boyfriend.” 

The small bickering had given Hajime a chance to refocus after his stammering, enabling him to return the pleasantry, “Ditto.” 

With that, the three Hope's Peak Attendees settled into the table, attempting to blend in with the others. 

At first, blending in to Hajime just meant eating his lunch in peace, but he quickly learned that it wasn't the case. Looking around, everyone else was conversing- The blonde girl with the bluenette, The two boys, and even Mahiru, who had managed to strike up a passionate conversation about the lack of gentlemen in the world with the black haired girl and the less enthused redhead. And that left- yup, Komaeda. 

… Should he try to talk to him? Or would it just get awkward, especially because the purple-haired boy who had just accused them of being soulmates was sitting directly across from them?

Hajime wasn't sure. And then the other made the decision for him. 

“Hey Hajime…” Nagito whispers, a concerned look in his eyes. 

“Yeah?” Hajime asks, trying to clear his mind. He couldn't have an existential crisis about Nagito while talking to him, after all. 

“Ah, I'm probably just being a bother-” He tries to shy away, but Hajime wasn't having it. 

“Don't give me that, you clearly wanted to tell me something,” Hajime reasons. 

“It's just… I can move if you don't want to sit next to me. I don't mind.”

“Huh?” Hajime asks, looking at Nagito with narrowed eyes. He was starting to get sick of his self deprecating attitude. “Why wouldn't I want to sit next to you?”

“...” Komaeda pauses for a moment, looking at Hajime's seat, “You look like you're trying so hard to sit away from me you've almost fallen out of your seat…” 

“Oh,” Hajime notices, embarrassment flooding his cheeks. He needed to work on making sure his inner crises weren't worn on his sleeve. “I-” 

Immediately, he scoots over to the middle of the seat, hoping that Nagito wasn't taking much offense to his accidental action. He must've subconsciously done that when recalling what Kokichi had said. Was he really that affected by it? Groaning about his own stupidity, Hajime began mumbling apologies to the white haired boy next to him. 

Just when Hajime thought he was going to implode with the awkwardness of the situation, he was saved by Mahiru, who stood up on her seat and began saying, “It's picture time!“

He had never been a fan of those words before, but at least this time they were a good thing. 

“I call standing next to the brown-haired loser!” Kokichi exclaims, wiggling his way around the table to stand next to… 

Oh God, he had been talking about Hajime. 

“Hm…” Mahiru says from the front of the table, “Now the sides are uneven. Komaeda, can you stand where Kokichi was before?” 

Without any complaints, Komaeda obeyed, now standing next to Shuichi. 

“Don't forget to smile!” Mahiru exclaims when everyone is situated, taking multitudes of pictures to ensure the likelihood of taking ones that reach her definition of good. 

While that was happening, the gremlin at Hajime’s side whispered one small sentence into his ear, “Want me to pinch him?” 

“N-no,” Hajime stutters out, knowing his face would be red in the picture. He had only known Komaeda two days, and so far nothing had even implied that they were soulmates. Nothing except Kokichi, a complete stranger. 

Hajime took a deep breath, calming himself down. It probably meant nothing. The purple haired boy was just messing with him. 

“Alright! You're free to move now,” Mahiru announces, putting her camera back around her neck, and going back to socializing with the two from before. 

“Hmph,” Kokichi pouts, “Fine. But just in case you change your mind~” 

With that, Kokichi reaches in his pocket and hands Hajime a familiar looking phone. 

“Hey, that's my-” 

“Text me,” He says with a wink, making his way back over to Shuichi, faux innocence in his steps. 

Sure enough, the boy had managed to get into his phone and make a contact for himself without Hajime having ever realized his phone was gone in the first place. 

“Don't think too much about anything he said to you,” The blonde girl, Kaede, says to Hajime, “He just likes to mess with people.” 

“But he hasn't been wro-” The blue haired girl with glasses, Tsumugi, tries to interject. 

“Shh,” Kaede warns in a whisper, “That's not the point.”

“…” Hajime pauses, standing in silence watching the two debate whether Kokichi had a point or not in offering the idea of Komaeda possibly being his soulmate. 

Typically, conversation like this would be at the forefront of Hajime's brain for weeks, and this time wouldn't have been an exception if it weren't for a sudden scream echoing throughout the zoo, ending all conversation and giving him something else to think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading this!! 
> 
> big shoutout to those of you that read it from the start and are actually happy I didnt drop this 
> 
> A lot has changed oh boy


	7. In Case of A Bear Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kazuichi and his group wind up in some trouble, and a shocking revelation is made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a stretch. I know it, you'll know it.  
> But it's my stretch, and I'm running with it. 
> 
> Welcome to a special chapter of You're Such A Pain, in which Kazuichi steals the POV from Hajime.

Kazuichi's POV 

 

“Ibuki, we've been here forever,” Kazuichi complains, emphasizing his boredom. “I get that the bear looks cuddly to you or whatever, but we need to move on.” 

He had given Fuyuhiko crap earlier for trying to rush them, but bears kind of gave him the creeps, and he was eager to leave.

 

Maybe watching the little one play with what looked like a 50-pound rock was endearing for a second, but for the rest of the time they had spent standing there it was repetitive and if he were being honest, unsettling, at least to Kazuichi. 

 

The bigger bear was at a slightly greater distance from the glass, which Souda appreciated, but he could've sworn it was giving him the stink eye.  

 

“But Ibuki likes the bears!” She protests, ready to beg as she hugged her stuffed animal, Schubert, whom she had purchased in the gift shop. 

 

“Kaz is right. We've gotta move on now if we want to finish the assignment,” Fuyuhiko orders, much to Kazuichi's liking. 

 

“Okay…” Ibuki gives up, disappointment in her voice. “Bye Bears~” 

 

And so they began slowly walking away from the enclosure, unaware that turning their backs from it was a signal to a certain someone to set a plan in motion. 

 

When they did realize something was occurring, it was because of the sound of glass shattering. 

 

By the time Kazuichi turned to see what happened, the larger of the two bears was no longer in the enclosure, but walking towards him. 

 

It was like something out of a nightmare for the pinkette-- which caused him to let out the loudest scream of his life, one that probably echoed throughout the zoo. 

 

His breathing became heavy as he backed up. 

 

His palms- why were his palms so goddamn sweaty. 

 

It looked angry. Why did it look so angry?

 

“G-guys,” He asks, as they start backing away in opposing directions, the bear continuing to follow him rather than them. Fuyuhiko looked calm, but Kaz new he was freaking out too. Ibuki was shouting for someone to help, but there were no zookeepers in sight. 

 

Shit. 

 

What he wouldn't give for endless knowledge on bears right now. Did you make yourself look bigger for a grizzly? Or was that a black bear? And what the hell was a sun bear? 

 

Maybe it wouldn't attack. Bear attacks weren't all that common, and never happened inside a zoo. 

 

Or maybe he was dreaming. He could have fallen asleep on the bus, right? 

 

But just as he was backed completely into a corner, the bear did something strange: it started standing up. 

 

Kazuichi gulped at the sight of the 6 foot something grizzly in front of him. 

 

Little by little, a small crowd of people were trickling in, most being his classmates to see what was happening. 

But why weren't any zookeepers around? 

 

Surely if a bear escaped they'd be on the case immediately. 

 

And then the bear did something else: it reached it's massive paw back. 

 

Kazuichi wasn't an expert, but he could tell it was about to strike. 

 

In the small distance, Kazuichi could hear Fuyuhiko cursing under his breath, and Ibuki shouting at him to get away.

 

But he also heard footsteps: the sound of running. 

 

He didn't have time to think about that though. He flinched in anticipation of the strike, covering his eyes. 

 

But he also heard a voice. Someone was close. 

 

“Be still, Grizner,” It called. It sounded… familiar. But Kazuichi wasn't about to risk his sight to see who it belonged to. 

 

The second a smaller sound, one reminiscent of Ibuki's “good-luck” perfume, occurred, the much expected  
rush of pain came. 

 

It hurt like hell, but he bit back the pain. His eye was throbbing. It felt like Wolverine had stabbed him. 

 

And he heard the owner of the voice from before grimace with pain. 

 

…

 

Wait. 

 

His eye? 

 

Wasn't he covering both of his eyes with his hands? 

 

And why didn't he feel any impact of the attack?

 

Taking a deep breath, he stood up straight and slowly but surely opened his eyes.

 

Standing in front of him was Gundham Tanaka, who had a n open can of bear spray in his hand. Instead of running away from the bear like Kazuichi wanted to, he was whispering to it, his voice alone being enough to soothe the bear. 

 

But there was something else, too, that the wannabe mechanic noticed about his classmate. 

 

He was bleeding. 

 

There was an open scratch across his eye.

 

Right where Kazuichi felt pain. 

 

His breath hitched upon the Ultimate realization: Gundham Tanaka was his soulmate. 

 

He didn't know what was more shocking; the bear attack or that fact. 

 

Sonia, Chiaki, and Mikan ran up to Gundham to check his wounds and comfort him, but Kazuichi just put his hands in his head and nearly fell to the floor. 

 

“Easy there,” Fuyuhiko says, helping him to the ground so he didn't pass out. 

 

“I-” Kazuichi begins, but stops. 

 

“You're in shock,” Mikan says, leaving Gundham with Sonia and Chiaki as she approached him. 

 

She didn't even know the half of it. 

 

“It's going to be okay,” She tells him, and he nods.  

 

From that point on, everything was a blur. 

 

He knew that once everything calmed down, and both zookeepers and professionals arrived, they brought both grizzly bears into a temporary habitat while theirs was repaired. 

 

They told him that the baby bear had thrown the rock it was playing with at the window. It was all an accident. 

 

And that the big bear was just a mother protecting her young, which is why it attacked. 

 

And he was lucky. 

 

It could've been worse if his classmate hadn't saved him, or had bear spray with him.

 

He should thank him. He knew that; but he didn't know if he could look him in the eye without spilling the beans.  

 

And at some point, he was boarded back onto the school bus like nothing had happened. 

 

But everything had, and right now he was the only one that knew it. 

 

Gundham Tanaka, the weird guy that talked to animals. 

 

Gundham Tanaka, the slightly attractive kid still in his chuunibyou phase. 

 

Okay, not just slightly attractive. 

 

Gundham Tanaka, the only one crazy enough to bring bear spray to a zoo field trip. 

 

Gundham Tanaka, the one who had just saved his life. 

 

Gundham Tanaka, his soulmate. 

That last one would take some getting used to.

 

“Hey… Kazuichi?” Hajime asks from beside him, snapping him out of his mental spout. “Are you okay?” 

 

Souda paused for a moment to regain his typical composure, and gave a faux goofy grin, “Don't worry about me, I'm not the one with the bandages.”

 

He was lucky he hadn't met Hajime but a day before, because the brunette wasn't good at reading him yet, and took his reply as a "nothing's wrong." 

The only thing that kept the pinkette from pretending like he had imagined the whole thing on their ride home was the consistent, dull pain that surrounded his eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The amount of bear research I did for this that I didn't end up using is outrageous. 
> 
> (Although, I did use bear spray and referenced a real thing that happened in a zoo, in which a bear was playing with a 50 pound rock and shattered the glass)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, even if it cuts the corners of realistic and complete fiction.


	8. A Late Night Crisis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kazuichi gets advice from his new friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A new chapter within a month? I'm shocked too

Kazuichi's POV

  
Resituating himself for the 80th time that night, the pink haired boy was rapidly losing hope of getting a goodnight's sleep.

  
Perhaps it was the irritating sound of the pouring rain that kept him tossing and turning. Or the everlasting light discomfort his eye felt, and what came with it.

  
But then again, it could just be how dry his throat was--- ah, water. He should get a drink of water; that would help.

  
Rolling out of his bed, he made his way to the kitchen, where he grabbed a cup-- one of the ones from a place like Walmart, with the Guardians of the Galaxy depicted on the outside-- and filled the cup halfway with water.

  
“The hell's going on?” Leon, his best friend and resident of the apartment's couch, asks, rubbing his eyes as he too entered the kitchen. Leon had drawn the short-end of the stick, and was the only one of them that was roomless, which meant he was always awakened when either of the boys were up to any nighttime shenanigans. The other room in the apartment belonged to Mondo, who was crashing with his boyfriend for the night.

  
“Couldn't sleep,” Kaz answers with a halfhearted shrug.

  
“This about what happened today?” The guitarist asks, propping himself up onto the counter to sit.

  
Souda let silence be his response.

  
He knew he couldn't talk about it to someone, without talking about all of it. The initial shock was wearing off, and now every question of practicality was flowing through his head. So many questions, he would explode if he didn't let them out. Initially, he thought about telling Mondo, with him having gone through that before, but since he was at Ishimaru's, that wasn't happening tonight. Maybe he should tell Leon-

  
But a lump in his throat stopped him.

  
He was fine with telling either of his roommates the soulmate thing, _but in terms of reasons he was thinking about not telling Gundham?_

  
That's where it got complicated.

  
He needed someone he could explain everything to, without fear of what they'd think of it. _But who?_

  
“That's okay. You don't gotta tell me about it,” Leon shrugs. “Unless you want to. Do what you need to do to get past it.”

  
Do what you need to do. Kazuichi nods at that. And then… something clicked.

  
“I...think.” He begins, barely processing his plan before going through with it. “I think I have to go somewhere.”

  
“Okay,” Leon supports with hesitancy, not sure of where in the world Kazuichi was planning on going this late.

  
By then Kazuichi was already headed out the door, not caring that it was pouring rain outside.

  
_Hajime. He could talk to Hajime._

 

* * *

 

Hajime's POV

  
_Knock, knock, knock._

  
Hajime grumbled in response to the sound, hoping it would go away if he ignored it.

  
_Knock, knock, knock._

  
“Chiaki…?” He asks, wondering if it could be her trying to wake him up for school.

  
_Knock_ , _knock_ , _knock_.

  
Again, he was met with more of the sound, forcing him to investigate. Yawning, he began walking down the stairs, and found the source of the knocking: the door. Or more specifically the pink-haired boy that stood on the other side of it.

  
It took a moment, mostly due to fatigue and the fact that the boy was wearing glasses, for his brain to register him as his new “soul friend” Kazuichi.

  
When he opened the door to let him in, he realized that Souda was soaked.

  
“Did you walk here?” Hajime questions.

  
“Y-yeah,” Kazuichi answers, and by the way he did so Hajime could tell he was frantic. _Could it be about the bear attack?_

  
“I'll get you a towel,” Chiaki calls from the top of the stairs, for Kazuichi's benefit. So she was awake too, it seemed.

  
“I'm sorry to barge in here like this,” Souda apologizes, realizing the time. “But I needed to talk to someone.”

  
“Go for it,” Hajime encourages as Chiaki returns with a towel, before leaving again. She seemed to know it wasn't her place to stay and eavesdrop.

  
“All day, everyone's been asking me if I'm okay. Telling me it's okay to be in shock, or whatever,” He begins, finally getting what's been bugging him off his chest.

  
“That's because it is-” Hajime tries to urge. Nearly everyone, aside from Hajime who had recently been enlightened, knew Kaz wasn't a fan of bears. And then one, in extremely rare circumstances, attacks him? That's enough to get anyone freaked.

  
“But that's not what's got me like this,” He continues, taking a deep breath.

  
“It isn't?”

  
“People-- they've been asking me if I knew how Gundham was, too. Assuming I've talked to him since he practically saved my life and all. But I haven't.” He looks distressed as he says this, making Hajime think he just had a guilty conscience.

  
“It's not your fault-” Hajime tries to chime in, Kazuichi's rambling overlapping his words.

  
“And the crazy part? I know exactly how he's doing.”

  
“Huh?” Hajime questions, not understanding the implications of his classmates words.

  
And then there was the thinning of the air, in which Kazuichi took his deepest breath of all, preparing to spill the secret of a lifetime:

  
“Because I can feel it.”

  
With those magic words, the pieces of the puzzle began to click in Hajime's mind.

  
“Gundham is my soulmate, Hajime,” The pinkette clarifies.

  
“Woah,” Hajime manages, looking at Kazuichi in awe.

  
_Kaz found his soulmate._

  
It was the news of all news, and both of them knew it. Hajime was happy for Souda, that was for sure, but he also felt a pang of jealousy.

  
_What if he never did?_

  
He bit back that feeling for the other's sake, and broke out a smile, “That's awesome! Congrats.”

  
Kazuichi matched the smile, full force at first, before it faded into doubt.

  
“That's the thing, though,” He mumbles, averting eye contact, as if he was too afraid of what the brunette would think of him. “I don't know if I'm going to tell him.”

  
Hajime wanted to shout something along the lines of ‘are you crazy?’ but felt the change in tone. Kaz was serious.

  
“Gundham isn't the problem. Honestly, I'm kind of glad it's him,” Souda begins, fidgeting with his hands slightly as he says so, to distract from the light tinge of pink his face was taking on. “Even when we were ‘rivals’ way back in elementary school, I always inexplicably felt comfortable around him. And when I was pining for Sonia, I was always around him since they're best friends and all-- and this explains it all. Why I felt like I was doing what I was meant to by being around Sonia, and why I've always felt comfortable around him.”

  
Hajime nods in response, encouraging Kazuichi to continue. At times like this, it was good to ramble.

  
“The thing is,” he continues, pausing for a moment out of hesitation. “By being his soulmate, I think I ruined his life. And if I tell him, he'll know it.”

  
“What do you mean?” Hajime asks, taken aback. That was… absurd. Finding your soulmate _starts_ your life, not _ruins_ it.

  
Kazuichi takes a moment to carefully articulate his next few responses and a deep breath while he's at it.

  
“I… got hurt a lot, growing up,” he finally announces. The words by themself would imply he was simply a klutz, but the way his hands shook slightly as he said it, and the way his voice seemed to skip over some letters made it evident that was not the case. “By my dad. But that means he got hurt, too. And he didn't deserve any of it. It probably drove him insane being in pain as a kid without ever knowing why.”

  
“...” Hajime was speechless. He knew he wanted to tell Kaz that none of it was his fault, he wasn't the one who chose to get hurt. But when he opened his mouth, nothing came out.

  
“Ah,” Souda realizes, forcing a weak smile. “Sorry for dropping that bomb on you. But don't think too much about it, I moved out. It's okay now.”  

  
Hajime knew it wasn't, because nothing like that would ever be okay. But he didn't push it for Kaz's sake.

  
“Bottom line is I've been thinking a lot today. And you know the bandages he wears on his arms? He says it's so his hamsters don't scratch him. What if that’s because of me? What if I've caused him so much pain he's protecting himself from even the smallest amount,because he's scared of feeling more pain-”

  
“He didn't seem scared of pain today,” Hajime reminds, cutting the mechanic off.

  
“That's different,” Kazuichi argues.

  
“Is it?” Hajime challenges, looking at Souda.

  
“...”

  
“Do you hate Gundham every time he gets hurt?” The brunette adds.

  
“... No.”

  
“So why would he hate you for having been hurt?”

  
“...”

  
“I think you should tell him,” Hajime finishes, giving him an encouraging smile. “It doesn't have to be now, but sometime. He has the right to know, and you have the right to find out all of the what if’s in the world.”

  
“...”

  
“Okay,” Kazuichi agrees, managing a small smile-- this time not forced. He had his time to panic, and now it was his time for hope; for happiness. _For the beginning of the rest of his life._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really appreciate everyone's comments!

**Author's Note:**

> I am aware that this chapter was pretty slow, and hasn't even had the intended soulmate, but please, bear with me! I always wish in stories that their is more build up, or in slowburn situations, that they have more time after their relationship starts, which is why I am doing this the way I am, because I want to somehow accomplish both. 
> 
> Please leave a comment if you have any opinions on this chapter or any couple suggestions or any soulmate AU prompts that you would like me to explore in the future!


End file.
